Glass pressing apparatus



L. F. ca-oQDRlcH` GLASS PRESSING APPARATUS Dec. 23, 1 941.

Filed Aug. 50, 1938 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. Ew F Gaone/cw Dec. 23, 1941. 2 L. F 'GOODMCH 2,267,236

n GLASS PRESSING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 30, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 A TTORNEYS.

Dec. 23, 1941. F GOODRICH 2,267,236

GLASS PRESSING APPARATUS.

Filed Aug. 30, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 AIR SUPPLY I mE "`5| y BY '50207, @6fm ATTORNEYS.

Patented Dec. 23, 1941 GLASS PRESSING APPARATUS Levi F. Goodrich, Corning, N. Y.; assigner to Corning Glass Works, Corning, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application August 30, 1938, Serial N0. 227,551

Claims.

The present invention relates to glass working presses, and is particularly concerned with the provision of an improved form of press especially suitable for the quantity production of small glass articles.

The primary object of the invention is the rapid and automatic productionof glass articles.

Another object is an improved method of delivering charges of glass to the respective molds of a glass working machine.

The invention embodies among its features means for*severing a flowing stream of molten glass into mold charges, a plurality of pressing arranged in an annular row about the axis of the flowing stream, means for receiving successive charges of molten glass and delivering successively fed mold charges from a continuously rotating distributing member I2. As this member approaches a pressing unit, a charge guide member I3 (Fig. 2) individual thereto is brought into position to direct a mold charge issuing from the member as it passes a pressing station into the mold of the associated pressing unit which comprises mold halves I4 and I5.y After the charge is delivered, the guide member them in succession to the pressing units, means y for successively Aoperating the pressing units immediately following the delivery of glass thereto, means for ejecting articles from thev pressing units upon the completion of the pressing operation, means common to the units to receive such articles, means for enabling glass being fed to the pressto pass directly to a cullet chute when desired, and means associated with the respective pressing units for defiecting charges of glass received thereat to the cullet chute instead of to the associated unit when desired.

A preferred form of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. l is a sectional plan view of a glass pressing apparatus, employing eight pressing units, taken on line I-I of Fig. 2;

Fig. la is a side elevation on an enlarged scale of a fragment of the apparatus of Fig. 1,'showing the charge distributing funnel thereof in its alternative position;

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation taken on line 2a is a view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1a as seen when looking in the direction indicated by arrows Zar-2a;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of one of the several like control valves employed;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a detail illustrating one of the several pilot valves and a fragment of a rotating table carrying a pilot valve operating member; and

Fig. Gis a straight line diagram illustrating the position of the several pilot valves relative to their'operating members.

In brief, the glass working press shown is provided witli eight pressing units, generally designated II (Figi), arranged in an annular row.

moves clear of the path of the mold plunger i6 and such plunger effects the pressing operation. When theplunger is raised the mold halves open laterally and a blast of air from a tube II ejects the pressed article into a chute I8 which opens onto a rotating platform I9. This platform conducts the ware to a straight line conveyor 20 (Fig. 1).

More specifically, the structureillustrated includes a circular support 2I which rests on a main platform 22 and has mounted thereon a main supporting plate 23. A vertically disposed cylinder 24 has an external ange 25 near its lower end which serves as a thrust bearing rotatably supporting the cylinder on plate 23, and at a point immediately below this plate carries a ring y gear 26 by means of which the cylinder is rotated by a pinion 21 on the upper end of a stub shaft 28. Rotation of shaft 28 is effected by a motor 30 through a gear reduction unit 3i, a shaft32 and bevel gears 33 and 34. The cylinder 24 carries the charge distributing member I2,

which normally is in such position that its charge receiving end I2 remains in coaxial alignment with the bottom outlet 35 of a forehearth, whereas its lower end is successively carried into alignment with the charge guide funnels I3 of the pressing units. g

In brief, the various functions of each pressing unit are performed by pneumatically actuated pistons 35-38 operating in cylinders 35i-4I to f whose opposite ends air is supplied at the appropriate times by control valves 42 individual to the respective cylinders and carried by a fixed plate 43. Each of these control valves is operated under the-influence of a particular pair. of bleeder valves of a group SI-SB (Figs. 2 and 6) individual to a pressing unit and operated at appropriate times by actuating members 6I-68 each adjustably secured to the under side of a plate 10 by a cap screw 44 (Fig. 5). In order to avoid complication of the disclosure only those control valves 42, individual to the pressing control cylinders 39 of the two pressing units appearing in Fig. 2 have been shown.

Each control valve is composed of a cylinder it is connected. Air.is constantly supplied to the respective ends of the cylinder 1I from an air supply line 12 via passages 14-11; and via passages 14 and 15'11', respectively, so that a balanced pressure exists at the cylinder ends so long as the connected bleeder valves remain closed and accordingly, the piston 18 remains, l in the position it has lastl moved. When, however, such balance of pressure is destroyed by the opening of one of the connected bleeder valves the piston shifts to the end of the cylinder which has been bled. For convenience of describing the operation of the control valves; it is assumed that the valve shown in Figs. 3 and 4 is the control valve 42 under the influence of bleeder valves 5I `and 52 individual to the plunger control cylinder 39 shown in sectionin Fig. 2 and, accordingly, the tubes extending from the valve 42 in Figs. 3 and 4 have been designated to correspond with the designations given the tubes in Fig. 2 extending from valve 42 therein. With the piston 18 in the position shown, air supplied to the control valve cylinder 1I, from line 12, is free to flow through passages 14, 15, 16,

. and a passage 19 (Fig. 3) to tube 83 extending to the bottom of cylinder 39 and accordingly the piston. 36 therein is held in the position shown. The top end of cylinder 39 is at this time connected to atmosphere via a path incuding tube 84 and aligned control valve passages 85 and 86. As soon as member 6I, carried by plate 10, engages and actuates bleeder valve 5I, it bleeds air from line 8| to effect the movement of piston 18 of valve 42 to the upper end of its cylinder. When in such position, the upper end of cylinder 39 of the pressing plunger is fed air from line 12 via passages 14, 15', 16', 85 (Fig. 3), and tube 39 is connected to atmosphere: via tube 83 and aligned passages 19 and 85 in the control valve.

The cylinders 39 and 40 of the pressing plunger and mold charge guide assemblies of each pressing unit are supported on an annular plate 90 carried by studs 9|. YA piston actuated shaft 92 depends from cylinder 36 and has its lower end shaped intofthe pressing plunger I6 hereinbefore referred to. Immediately surrounding shaft 92 is a sleeve 93 from which a suitable mold ring 94 is suspended. The shaft 92 is normally held in its uppermost position with respect to sleeve 93 by a spring 95.

The charge guide funnel I3` of each pressing unit must obviously be moved clear ofthe pathV of movement of the associated plunger assembly after having directed a mold charge into the m'old. This movement is taken care of by pivotally suspending such guide funnel on a bracket 91 carried by a. shaft 98 raised and lowered by the associated piston 31. The movement of the guide funnel I3 is guided into and out of feeding relation with respect tothe mold assembly by a pin |00 operating in a suitably shaped slot IOI in a xed plate I 02. As will be clear from the previous description, air for operating piston 31 is supplied to cylinder 40 at the proper times by a control valve (not shown) similar to valve 42, under the influence of bleeder valves 55 and 56.

The mold halves I4'and I5 of each pressing unit are mounted to pivot about a pin |03. Such 84. At this time, the lower end of thecylinder 2,267,236 1| (Figs. a and 4) the opposite ends of which are movementfis effected by a yoke I 04 carried by a shaft |05 actuated by piston 38. As will be clear from the foregoing description, actuation of the piston `38 is under the influence of a control valve (not shown) such as the control valve 42 already described, connected with tubes .|08 and |09 and under the innuence of bleeder -valves 54 and 55.

Under certain. circumstances, for example when startingoperations, it may be desirable to prevent glass=issuing from frehearth outlet 35 from reaching the pressing units. `The charge distributing member I2 has accordingly been pivotally vsecured to cylinder 24 at IIO and is held in charge receiving position near its top end by an adjustable link III clamped to a lug II2 (Fig.-1a) 'carried by cylinder 24. By loosening the clamping'bolt of link Il I, the distributing member can be shifted to the position illustrated in Fig. 1a so that any glass issuing from the forehearth outlet will thereafter pass directly into a cullet chute ||3.

Under certain circumstances, it may be desirable to operate the press with one or more of the pressing unitsv out of service. This may be accomplished byA closing valves installed in the air lines extending between the bleeder valves and their Aassociated control valves, thereby preventing movement of the associated guide funnel into feeding relation to its mold cavity, the unnecessary opening and closing movements of the mold, or the lowering of the plunger. One such valve, II5 is illustrated in line 82 extending between control and bleeder valves 42 and 52, respectively. When such valves II5 are closed, a charge of glass issuing from distributing member I2 at the. inactive position encounters a deector plate II6, on the disabled guide funnel, which deilects the charge onto a deilecting plate II1 (see Fig. 1a) so that the charge passes through an aperture I I8 in the wall of the cylinder 24 and on into cullet chute II3.

The mechanism for operating a pair of shear blades |20, arranged to sever charges of glass from the stream issuing from the forehearth outlet, has not been shown, but may be any of several known forms. The timing of their operation, however, must be suchas to occur just as the distributing member I2 is coming into register with a charge guide funnel I3. To accomplish this, the operation vof the shear mechanism is placed under control of a bleeder valve 58 at each mold position under control of an actuating member 68 (Fig. 6).

As previously mentioned, discharge and delivery of pressed articles from the respective mold units into chute I8 is by means of air directed toward the article by a tube I1 (Figs. 2 and 2a). These tubes are connected to the exhaust outlets of bleeder valves 51 successively operated by a member 61 (Fig. 6). The moving platform I9 to which the finished articles are delivered is supported by a ring gear I2| driven by a pinion |22 on drive shaft 32. A split retaining ring I 23 (Fig. 1) surrounds the platform and has one end, |24, thereof bent to shunt the finished articles from this platform to the straight line 4conveyor 20. A

Operation The cycle of events occurring at any active pressing position can best be explained by reference to Fig. 6. This gure diagrammatically illustrates the relative positions of the bleeder valve control members 6 |'-68 with respect to the bleeder valves l-58 at the respective mold positions,

-'which have been designated with vthe numerals shear control bleeder valve 58 has just' passed Y shear control bleeder valve 58 at position I which accounts for the presence of a charge |32 in the ymold, member E6 is about to pass over bleeder valve 5E to eiect return of the guide at position i,

member 6i is about to actuate that bleeder valve which effects control over theA lowering of the pressing plunger at position 2, member 62 is about to actuate that bleeder valve at position I which eiects control over the raising of the pressing plunger, member 63- is about to actuate that bleeder valve which eiects control over the opening of the mold at position 5, member 61 is about to actuate that bleeder valve which supplies air for discharging the nished article at position 6, member 6l. is about to actuate that bleeder valve which eiects control over the closing of the mold at position 1, and member 55 is about to actuate that pilot valve which eects control of the align= ment of the charge guide funnelat position 8 in readiness for the receipt of a charge at that position. It will be observed that the spacing of members 6i and 62 is such that .a plunger remains down while two other steps in the cycle are occurring. This is done to allow ample time for Vthe formed article to set up.

While only one specific form of the invention has been illustrated, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the featuresof novelty herein disclosed and claimed may well be emi ployed in many different forms of structures without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a glass working apparatus, a plurality of symmetrically arranged fabricating ts, an element for successively guiding charges of glass toward said units; a cullet chute, and guide mem-- bers for said units having alternative positions in one of which they direct charges of glass issuing from said element into their associated units and -in the other of which they divert such charges to said cullet chute, and means for shifting said guide members back and forth between such positions.

2. In a glass working apparatus, astationary mold, a pressing plunger aligned over said mold, a movable member for 'guiding mold charges into said mold, means for periodically moving said member into and out of the path of movement of said plunger into and out of operative relation to said mold, and means for feeding mold charges to said guiding member during pauses occurring between its respective movements.

3. In a glass working press, an annular row of fixed mold assemblies, a movable glass distributing member having its glass receiving end arl ranged beneath the bottom outlet of a forehearth from which charges of glassare supplied, a plunger assembly arranged in operative alignment with each mold assembly, a mold charge guide arranged alongside each plunger assembly, means for successively positioning said guide assemblies in feeding relation to their molds for a period necessary to' charge them, and means for uninterruptedly moving the discharge end of said glass distributing member into successive register with the receiving ends of the positioned guide members. f

4. The combination, with a plurality of stationf ary glass shaping units, of individual members for guiding charges of glass into association with said units, means for moving said members into glass delivery relation with their respective units, continuously moving glass charge delivering means successively associated with said members following their movement into delivery relation with their units, and means for thereafter returning such members to their initial positions.

' 5. In a glass working press, a stationary support having an annular row of pressing units mounted thereon, each including a mold, a mold charge guide, and a pressing plunger; means for successively moving the mold guides thereof into feeding relation therewith and for then, in like sequence, feeding charges of glass thereto through such guide members, means for returning saidv mold charge guides, in like sequence, to their initial positions, and means for effecting the successive movements of the respective plungers into and out of pressing relation with their molds following their receipt of charges of glass.

' LEVI F. GOODRICH. 

